Fill 'er Up

July 3rd came quickly. Here are some pictures from that morning. More story below.

Pictures from 7/3/2013:

We both went along to the appointment to make sure Zeke stayed as calm as possible. 

First, our doctor put a numbing cream over the stitches and the ports (a new term we learned that day for where the additional fluid would be injected). We then walked a couple laps around the building to give some time for the cream to kick in (we also gave him some of his extra strength tylenol). After about half an hour, we went back into the office to get started.

Daddy held Zeke during the procedures to help make sure his head stayed as still as possible. First up was removing the stitches. Zeke did very well during this part. Everything came out cleanly and the scars looked very good. Next was adding more fluid into the balloons. Zeke got a little upset during this part, but it was probably pretty scary with all of what was happening, especially with a second part to the day.

It's a little tough to see in all these pictures, but the ports are just in front of each of the two bags. The doctor described them as having metal bottoms so that the needle isn't able to got through the bottom. We're not sure how the top is put together, but the doctor puts the needle into the port which then passes the fluid to the balloons through a tube. Only a small bit of blood comes from the injection site which clots after just a few minutes. It is pretty amazing.

Here are some pictures from 7/7/2013 showing the tightness around the skin after the first fill-up. It's pretty amazing to see how the skin grows and relaxes during the two week stretches in-between office visits.

Pictures from 7/7/2013: